


When Little Stone Man met Big Green

by AnonEhouse



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alpha Bruce, Alpha Fury, Alpha Natasha, Alpha Steve, Alpha Thor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe -Prehistoric, Beta Bucky, Beta Clint, Beta Jane, Beta Maria Hill, Beta Phil, Cavemen, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Humor, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2017-11-27 11:55:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/661726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prompter requested A/B/O with a twist. I twisted it a bit further than the prompter wanted, I think. Angsty young caveman Omega Tony meets the Alpha of his dreams, and they sort of accidentally begin gathering misfits into a tribe.</p><p>(AND DONE. YAY.)</p><p>(now with Spanish Language translation:<a href="http://www.amor-yaoi.com/fanfic/viewstory.php?sid=154174"> courtesy of Latexohpo</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

Tony was sulking in the circle with the girls when the other tribe came to trade for mates. Tony wasn't a girl, he was _special_. He knew the law, if you could have babies you shouldn't stay with your birth tribe because... well, he's not sure why, but that's the way it's always been done, and his father hit him when he tried to hide. Tony didn't even want babies. It looked like it wasn't any fun at all getting all bulgy and clumsy, giving birth sure looked like it hurt more than getting gored by a bull, definitely the screaming went on a lot longer, and then you were stuck with a little person you had to carry around with you and if you didn't have a good hunter for a mate, you had to work twice as hard to gather what plant stuff you could eat.

There was a lot of talking before the exchanges began. The girls' mothers from both tribes made a big fuss about how great they were, how clever they were at dressing hides, or cooking, or gathering food. They were trying to make them look good, so they'd be treated well by their new tribe until they were old enough to get their own mate. Or be someone's second or third mate, or worse, not have anyone who'd stay with them so they'd be scrounging for scraps of food and affection. Tony was really bad at most of the things they expected girls to do, and his mother was dead, so she wasn't here to say anything nice about him and his father just said that Tony was 'one of those o-men' and 'if they beat him enough, he wouldn't be any trouble'.

Given the way he was described, Tony wasn't terribly surprised when the other tribe traded four of their girls for four of Tony's tribe, but none of them even bothered to touch him or sniff him. 

The same thing happened at the next mate trading session, only it was worse, because the last of the girls of tradable age were taken. After the feast and tearful farewells on all sides, Tony's father handed him a waterskin and a pouch full of dried meat pounded with fat and berries. Then he pointed at the mountains.

So much for being special. As Tony walked into exile, and probably death by starvation unless a predator killed him first, he wondered why his mother had fussed over him and been so proud of him. She said his kind of person was rare even in the much larger tribe she'd come from, and that men fought for the right to be their mates. He didn't see why. If a man wanted to be a father, there were plenty of women who had nice curvy bodies even when they weren't pregnant. And if he wanted a man for his mate, there were plenty of men much stronger, and with bigger dicks, than Tony. Offhand he couldn't think of anyone in the tribe less sexually appealing than himself, no matter what standards you used. He would have agreed to stay with the tribe and not mate with anybody, which would have been easy, since no one wanted him, but that wasn't an option.

***

It wasn't too bad at first, living alone. His mother had taught him how to find plant food, and he had figured out by himself how to make snares out of braided grass, so most days he had at least a little something to eat. And if he was always hungry, well, he'd been always hungry when he lived with the tribe, so he was used to that. On the bright side, he didn't get hit for being different and he only had to worry about hurting himself too badly to get food, or being eaten by a predator. 

Since there wasn't anyone around to scold him for not being manly enough to kill prey with his hands and teeth, he made weapons, too. Real men only used weapons to fight other men, his father always said, but since Tony wasn't a real man, and no one was going to see his shame, he made all sorts of things out of wood and rocks and strips of hide and sharpened bone. He liked making things, it made him feel better to have something to think about and to keep his hands busy when his stomach clenched tight and complained. And it made his little cave feel more like a tribe lived there, with all his weapons piled up against the wall next to his nest of dried grass.

But then the year turned, like it always did, and there weren't any berries or fresh sprouts, the nuts were hard and green, the roots were dry and tasteless, and the few small things he was able to snare were thin. If he couldn't kill something big soon, he was going to be too weak to do it at all, and then the snow would come and that would be the end of him. He didn't want to end. He particularly didn't want to end alone and in his sad little cave.

He'd never been taken along on the hunt, but sometimes he'd heard the b-men and a-men talking about it, so he had a vague idea of the different methods. There weren't many that were possible for a single, inexperienced hunter. Lying in wait near the watering hole seemed his best bet. His father had always complained that Tony smelled bad enough to scare away game, so he bathed in the water first and scrubbed himself down with sharp-smelling leaves before he found a hiding place between two boulders with a view of the trampled mud where animals came to drink. He waited a long, long time before the first animals came. He threw his spear and missed, scaring off the young deer. Most of the day went like that, long, long time sitting and waiting, and then a few seconds of wasted opportunity because at least one animal out of the herd would see him move. Finally a scarred old buck came to the water by itself. Tony waited until it had its muzzle in the water, drinking deeply, before he threw his spear. The buck leaped up at the same time, so the spear didn't take him in the heart, but it wounded his haunch. The deer bellowed and ran away, leaving a trail of dark blood. Tony scrambled up and followed, excited and proud and hopeful. If he could just get to it before a predator, there would be enough meat to fill his stomach and to dry and eat for days and days.

The deer ran a lot faster than Tony had thought it could, and he got out of breath, with his blood rushing in his ears so loud that at first he didn't hear the growls. He slid to a stop the moment he realized something big and not a deer was nearby. He crawled under a bush to peer out in the direction of the sound. His deer was there. And ... what the heck was that eating his deer? It was green like a lizard, but sorta shaped like a man. But really, really, really big. And strong. It picked up the deer and ripped off a leg with less effort than Tony would have used to snap a branch. Well, there was no way he was going to challenge _that_ for his deer. He wriggled back in the bush to go away. Something snapped under his leg. He froze in place, and held his breath.

The big green man dropped the meat he was eating with his big white teeth and stood up straight, nostrils flared and big green eyes looking around angrily. Tony whimpered silently and flattened himself to the ground. He didn't smell like leaves after all that running. He hoped that he smelled like something nasty, something no one would want to eat. Please, please, he thought as hard as he could, take the deer and go eat it somewhere else, somewhere that doesn't stink like a stupid little o-man.

The big green man walked directly to Tony's bush, and ripped it out of the ground. Tony yelped and covered his head. He didn't want to see those big white teeth. He heard a loud sniff, and then the man growled. Tony wished he could dig into the ground and hide like a worm. Something hard and blunt poked him in the shoulder. Tony cringed away, and opened his eyes. Big green was looking at him and poking him with a finger. He wasn't showing his teeth. He didn't even look angry. Maybe he really was a person. People don't eat people. Not even if they're from different tribes.

"Hello," Tony said. He did his best to smile. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner." Big green didn't say anything. Maybe his tribe spoke different. But everyone knows what a smile is, don't they? Tony tried for another smile. "It's a nice day, isn't it? For the time of year, I mean. Pretty soon the leaves will be turning different colors. Do you turn different colors? The green looks nice. I never met anyone who was green before. Does it make it easier to hunt? Well, probably not in the winter, when there's no green leaves to hide you, but then, someone like you doesn't need to hide from anyone. Do you?" The more he talked the more the big green man's expression changed. Tony wasn't quite sure what it meant, but hey, he wasn't being hit or bitten, so he counted that as good. Big green reached out his hand toward Tony. Tony cringed, and he could have sworn that big green looked hurt. "Oh, no, it's all right." He patted big green's arm. "Wow, you are strong."

White teeth flashed in big green's face. "Oh, you're smiling. We're friends?" Tony stayed still this time as the big green hand moved very slowly to pat him on the head, as cautiously as Tony would handle a bird's egg. "Great! Oh, hey... do you think... maybe... I could stay with you? If your tribe doesn't mind? I'm only an o-man, so I couldn't help much with the hunting, but..." Tony found himself talking to the back of big green's head. "Is that a no?" he asked, feeling sad. He missed people, even people who were mean to him, and big green had actually been nice.

Big green went back to the deer. "Oh, yeah, you just go ahead and finish." Maybe big green would let him have the scraps. A mighty hunter like that doesn't need to scrape bones clean. He watched as the deer got ripped open more and big green took out the liver. It looked so good, Tony couldn't help his mouth watering. The hunters always got the best parts, but sometimes when there was a really successful hunt, they'd share with their mates. His mother had sneaked him bits of liver a few times. It tasted better than anything. Big green pulled a big leaf from a tree and put the liver on it. And then... he brought it over to Tony, and put it in front of him. And smiled with all his big white teeth.

Tony blinked in surprise. "For me? Really?" Tony slowly picked up the meat, watching big green's face to make sure he hadn't misunderstood. "Thank you." Tony ate the liver as slowly as he could, making happy noises as he chewed and swallowed and his belly gladly took in the really good food. 

Big green sat on the ground watching him, making little happy growly noises of his own. He slumped down bit by bit, and after a while Tony noticed he was getting smaller. Tony stopped eating for a moment. People get bigger, not smaller. But then, most people aren't green. Maybe it's different for big green's people. By the time Tony finished eating the liver and was licking his hands clean, big green looked like one of the a-men from Tony's tribe, only he was a lot hairier, with a nicely furry chest that looked soft and cuddly. The big difference was that he was looking at Tony and smiling. "Hello," no longer big green said. Tony liked his voice, it was warm and friendly, and soft. He sounded the way his chest looked.

"Oh, you _can_ talk! That's great. How do you get all big and green? Does everyone in your tribe do that? Could you teach me?" Tony grinned. He knew he was talking too much, but it had been so long since he had anyone to talk to that he just couldn't stop. "Oh, and what's your name? I can't call you Big Green when you're not big and green. My name's Tony."

No longer big and green laughed. "I'm Bruce, and... I don't know how I get to be the Other Guy." He sighed. "I don't have a tribe any more, they sent me away when I grew up into... you know... big and green."

"Huh. Why did they do that? That's stupid. You're amazing! You must be the best hunter _ever_! I bet you never have to go hungry."

"Well, yes, the Other Guy can kill anything. That was the problem. Everyone was afraid I'd get mad when I was big, and kill _them_. Aren't you afraid of the Other Guy?"

"I was at first, but then I saw he was a person. And he gave me the liver!" Then Tony stopped to think about that. "Wait, why did he give me the liver? The bones, or even a bit of meat, all right, but you don't share the liver with just anyone, do you?"

Bruce coughed and ran a hand through his hair. Tony thought he looked nervous. "Well, no. In my tribe, we give the liver to... well... when we want someone to like us. Really like us."

"The Other Guy _really_ likes me?"

"Um. Yeah. And I do, too." Bruce ducked his head and rubbed his hands together. "But you don't have to... um... let me... you know. The Other Guy could tell that you haven't... aren't... you know, ready. To do. It. Because, you know, you haven't been getting enough meat. Skinny o-men don't... well... they don't... _ripen_ ... oh, this is embarrassing."

"Is it? Why?" Tony had never seen an a-man embarrassed. They didn't care what anyone thought; they did whatever they wanted, which mainly was a lot of shouting and fighting, with a touch of bullying b-men and, of course, Tony.

"Because you're an o-man, and I should have been courting you for weeks before I even... I should have showed you what a good hunter I am, and how I could beat up any other a-men who came sniffing around you, and they would be all after you because you smell so good."

"I do?" 

"Oh, yeah." Bruce looked up at Tony and smiled. "You smell really good." 

"Huh." Tony moved closer to Bruce. "I can have babies, you know. I think. Maybe?" Tony wasn't quite sure that was what Bruce wanted, but if it was-- well, Tony really liked Bruce, and Bruce babies... he'd like Bruce babies. He was pretty sure he would, even if they were green. That would be worth the bother. "We could start our own tribe?"

Bruce moaned and put his arms around Tony. "Oh, I'd like that, Tony."

Tony leaned back in Bruce's embrace. "Kill something big for me? I want to eat a lot of meat."

Bruce growled and his arms swelled and started turning green. He grew as big as he had been before and stood up with Tony in his arms.

"Hold on a sec, Other Guy." Tony clambered up to sit on the big green shoulder and look around in satisfaction at the world, lying under his feet. "Niiice." He drummed his heels against the warm green skin and wrapped an arm around the tree trunk neck next to him. "Oh, if Dad could see me now."

The Other Guy growled... well, no, it was more of a purr... and strode off in the jungle, with Tony giggling on his shoulder and feeling warm and good and really, really, _special_.


	2. The Tribe of Two Expands

Tony was happily using a flat rock and a saber tooth's fang to make holes in mammoth hide. It takes a lot to make a winter cloak for the Other Guy. Bruce was cooking fish on sticks over a fire. Tony wasn't allowed to cook because the first time he tried to cook some bird eggs he set the grass on fire and the stupid dog that hung around the camp for the bones got scared and peed on the fire. Which was good because it put the fire out, but he peed on Tony, too. Stupid dog. "STUPID," Tony yelled and threw a couple pieces of hide at the dog because it was funny to watch him chew on them.

Stupid wagged his stupid tail and played with the hide for a few minutes, and then he stopped and stared off into the forest, growling, and with his hair going all up his back. "BRUCE!" Tony shouted, dropping the fang and grabbing up his latest weapon, a spear thrower. He barely had time to fit a spear into it before Bruce was all greened up and ready to do battle. "I LOVE when you do that!" Tony shouted. He liked that he didn't have to hide from ANYTHING, so long as he was with Bruce.

The bushes rustled and Stupid bounced up and down as if he was going to attack, but he didn't. Stupid liked being safe behind the Other Guy, too. 

"Hello?" A man stepped out of the bushes. He was an a-man, the most perfect a-man Tony had ever seen, big and smooth muscles all over, sun yellow hair and sky blue eyes. Really, he was very pretty. He had a spear, but the point was down and dragging behind him. "I smelled... the fish." He said that, but he was looking at Tony.

The Other Guy snarled at him. He'd been doing that a lot lately, and sniffing Tony and licking Tony's butt, which felt nice once he got used to the idea. Tony supposed he was getting 'ripe'. He definitely wasn't skinny any more. Bruce was such a great hunter even Stupid was summer-fat despite the rapidly cooling days, and really chilly nights when Bruce and Tony cuddled inside the cave in a nest of furs. Tony sat down on a rock and smiled as the Other Guy roared at pretty a-man. "That's my mate," Tony said. "Do you want to fight him for me? You'll lose." 

"Oh! Oh, no, no," pretty a-man said. His face went all pink. Tony thought that was interesting, but green was much more interesting. "I don't want to fight for you."

Tony frowned. "You don't want me?" Bruce said... was Bruce just trying to make Tony feel good? "Don't I smell good?" Tony's frown deepened.

"You smell great! Hey, no!" Pretty a-man went flying through the air as the Other Guy hit him. He landed in a tree. He was still holding his spear. "Wait! No, Bruce, it's me, Steve! I'm not trying to steal your mate!"

The Other Guy ripped up the tree pretty a-man was in and threw it against a boulder. Pretty got up and hit the Other Guy over the head with the boulder. Tony hadn't seen that coming. Stupid pressed back against Tony, and they watched the fight. Pretty was fast, and he was good at throwing things. Tony was enjoying the fight. Then he sniffed. "BRUCE! The FISH!" The Other Guy grunted and gave pretty one last growl before shrinking back down into Bruce, and going over to take the fish off the fire.

Pretty crouched on the ground, holding a big rock. "Are you really Steve?" Bruce said to him as he handed Tony a fish stick. "Steve was a little guy."

"Yeah. I'm Steve." Steve shook his shoulders and brushed dirt out of his hair. "I got big. Like you did, only I'm stuck this way. They were afraid I'd get bigger. So..." He shrugged. "I thought I'd come see how you were doing."

"Huh," Bruce said. He went over to Steve and offered him a fish stick. "Tony's mine."

Steve nodded as he took the stick and began breaking off pieces of hot fish to eat. "Tony's yours."

Bruce nodded. "You want to join our tribe?"

"Yes, please!"

Tony looked back and forth between the two a-men. "Can you cook, Steve?"

Steve frowned and then nodded. "Yeah. My mom taught me. Dad... wasn't a good provider, so we couldn't waste anything."

Tony went over to Steve and patted him on the shoulder. Bruce only growled a little. Steve's shoulder was smooth and very warm. "Great!" He was thinking about winter, and how much warmer it would be with Steve in the cave with him and Bruce and Stupid. "Welcome to the tribe, Steve."


	3. Happiness is Warm People

Steve and the Other Guy were butchering a forest mammoth (that's the kind with short red fur, not the larger shaggy gray plains mammoth) and Tony had returned to home camp to get more knives because mammoth hide wears stone down fast. Stupid had stayed with the mammoth, _helping_. Tony had noticed that some kinds of stone have harder bits in them that don't wear down so fast and he's been trying to figure out how to get the hard bits out and put them together to make all-hard knives. Bruce had some good ideas on that and while Steve couldn't understand, he was all for better knives. Tony's tribe was smart, they don't mind using weapons, even though Steve and Bruce were so strong they don't really need them.

He had got the knives, but stopped to sit down and pick through the rock the Other Guy had crushed for him, setting aside hard bits. Tree sap didn't hold them together good enough, and soaking them in water only cleaned off the soft bits... maybe fire? Fire made sticks turn into something else, maybe rocks were harder than sticks and he just needed to figure out a way of getting more fire on the rocks, different fire? Maybe fire stuck inside something so it couldn't run away and had to work harder on the rocks?

Tony was thinking hard. He could think so much better now that he wasn't hungry all the time. He was thinking so hard that when he felt something stick him in the neck he reached up to swat the bug without looking at it. His hand touched cold stone. He yelped and threw himself backward away from the knife that had cut him. "Ow!" He landed on his back, looking up at an a-woman. A very beautiful a-woman, with fire-red hair and eyes the color of spring leaves. She would have been a lot more beautiful if she hadn't been holding a knife whose tip was wet with his blood. "YOU STABBED ME!" Tony said in outrage. 

She shrugged and brought the knife up to her mouth and licked it. "Fastest way to see if you're ready to mate, o-man."

"No! NO, I am not, and no, you are not! I already have a mate." Tony grabbed a knife, but before he could do anything, the a-woman kicked it out of his hand and was sitting on him, squeezing his neck between her thighs. Tony flailed around, but he couldn't move her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another person, a b-man around Tony's size, but with really muscular arms.

The b-man said, "Tasha, I thought we were going to talk to him." He sounded unhappy. "I didn't know you wanted to take him as mate."

"I don't, Clint," the a-woman said. She released Tony and got to her feet in one smooth move. Tony didn't try to get up. She still had at least one knife, and killer thighs. She looked down at Tony and shrugged. "Stupid o-man shouldn't be alone. Especially not when he's nearly ready to mate. Not everyone is as nice as I am."

Tony nodded. "Thanks for the lesson. Now I think you'd better leave before my tribe returns. My mate wouldn't like you at all."

Tasha made a huffing noise. "I'm not afraid of anyone." She moved forward and laid a foot lightly on Tony's chest. "My tribe didn't like me being a hunter. They didn't like me choosing my own mate. They thought an a-woman couldn't be as good a fighter as a-men. So I took my mate and left. Your tribe is small. Your a-men should be glad I am here to protect you. They should be happy I'm thinking to join your tribe."

"Uh, Tasha," Clint said, a second before Tony heard Bruce's angry shout turn into the Other Guy's roar. Tasha turned away from Tony in time to meet the Other Guy's charge. Tony sat up. Steve started fighting Clint. Tasha was tiny next to the Other Guy, but mostly she wasn't next to him, she kept jumping on him and hitting him with knives (she had a lot of knives hidden in the black fur she was wearing) and punching and using rocks and... Tony was impressed. Clint was doing pretty good for a b-man up against perfect a-man Steve, but then, Steve didn't like to hurt people so he probably wasn't being as rough as he could.

Stupid ran around all of them, barking until he was tired, and then he came to sit next to Tony, panting with his tongue hanging out. Tony scratched Stupid behind the ears and watched the Other Guy throw Tasha. Tasha did something while she was in the air, and landed facing Tony. She was grinning. Tony laughed and clapped his hands. Everyone stopped fighting and looked at him. There was a lot of blood and bruises among them, but nothing worse than the aftermath of a mammoth hunt. Tony said, "Tasha and Clint would like to join the tribe."

The Other Guy growled. "TONY MINE."

Tasha coughed. "Tony's yours." She looked at Clint. "Clint's mine."

The Other Guy looked at Clint and snorted. "CLINT YOURS. DON'T WANT." He walked over to Tony and sniffed him all over before licking the little spot of blood from Tony's neck. He growled at Tasha.

Tony grinned and ruffled the Other Guy's hair. "Does either of you two know a good way to cook mammoth?"

Tasha pointed at Clint. Clint sighed. "Well, first you get a big pit full of firewood, and a lot of those not-so-sweet red vine fruits, and some honey..."

Tony thought Clint was going to be good for the tribe. He still wasn't quite sure about Natasha. But still... she was hot. And in winter, that was all that counted.


	4. When You're Hot, You're Hot

Tony pulled the furs off himself and scratched at his belly in irritation. Why was it so hot? He looked around the cave at his sleeping tribe, at Stupid who was chewing on a bone, at the pretty drawings Steve had done on the walls, lit by the pottery and melted fat lamps that Tony and Bruce had made. He wriggled and pushed at the heavy arm resting across his shoulder until Bruce twitched in his sleep and sat up. 

"What's ..." Bruce's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth and heaved in a deep breath. "Tony," he said in a deep, deep voice. Not quite as deep as the Other Guy, but a lot thicker and throatier than usual. Tony liked it, he liked it a lot. He leaned against Bruce's chest.

"I'm hot," Tony said. "And I itch." He squirmed closer to Bruce. "Scratch me?"

Bruce growled. He flexed his arms around Tony. "MINE."

"Uh huh." Tony rubbed his face against Bruce's fuzzy chest. He was a little surprised when Bruce roared and everyone else woke up and ran out of the cave. But only a little surprised. It felt right, just him and Bruce. "Good. It was too hot." He licked a nice salty patch of skin and tried to wriggle closer to Bruce. It was strange, he was hot, and Bruce was hot, and he didn't want to let go of Bruce to cool off.

Bruce rumbled something that sounded a bit like Tony's name. He ran his large, larger? hands over Tony's back before tipping him back to lie in the tangled furs. Tony giggled. Bruce looked strange, his eyes were green and his skin had green blotches, but he wasn't as big as the Other Guy. "You don't need to be the Other Guy," Tony said as he moved restlessly, trying to find a comfortable way to lie. His skin felt too small, and his dick felt too big, and his butt was itchy and something thicker than sweat was running down there. It smelled, too. Sweet and hot, like fresh blood, but not really that, like honey? Or maybe fruit trees in the spring? It was funny. Everything was funny. When Bruce picked up Tony's legs and licked his butt, that was funny, too.

Until Bruce's tongue went in and then it was... "Oh! Bruce! Yes! Do that! That's it! That's where it itches!" Well, that was part of it, but the rest of the itch was inside, like he'd eaten too much, or hadn't eaten enough, or that time Clint found those tiny red berries that tasted like fire and Tony loved them and ate a lot but his belly didn't like them. Like the time he'd burnt his hand a little while trying to make hard knives and it was all red and even the lightest touch hurt, but this doesn't exactly hurt, it's pressure, like he needs to pee, but not that, either. "BRUCE! Help me!" He's confused and it's not funny now and he can't stop moving, trying to scratch the itch, cool the fire, relieve the pressure, but nothing he can do is making it better.

Bruce pulled Tony's legs up higher and pushed a finger in. Tony jerked up and grabbed at Bruce's shoulders. Bruce was so smart, he was even smarter than Tony. He knew what to do, Tony could see that in his face, his big, greenish face. Bruce growled softly and moved to lick up between Tony's legs, over his balls, which really felt good, and over his dick and... for a moment there, Tony wasn't thinking at all, it just felt so ... better than good. He jerked and tried to grab Bruce's head to keep him there, keep him licking Tony's dick, but Bruce growled again and shook his head. Bruce knew best, Tony was sure of it. But he ITCHED and BURNED. Tony whined and pulled at Bruce's chest hair. "PLEASE!"

And then Bruce moved back and Tony could see Bruce's dick. It was big, and greenish, and standing up and... it was just what Tony wanted, he knew it. He didn't think about it, he just flipped over and got onto his hands and knees. "Bruce! Please!" Big hands grabbed his thighs, moving them apart, and then... oh. "OW! Wow." That hurt, but it felt good and more than good, it felt necessary, like he'd die without it, and he didn't care that it hurt. He'd seen lots of people mating, but he had NO IDEA it felt like this. How did people ever stop mating and do anything else? He braced himself against the cave floor and moaned as Bruce held him in place and kept pushing his big dick in deeper and deeper, until it _almost_ reached the itch. Tony whined and tried to wriggle back onto Bruce. Bruce put his teeth into Tony's neck and bit down just enough to warn him to be good or else.

"Brrruuce," Tony complained. He couldn't get Bruce to help, he'd help himself. Tony shifted to balance on one elbow, and then used his free hand on his own dick. He'd never wanted to come so badly before in his whole life. He'd done it lots of times for comfort, and to make himself feel good, and he'd done it a lot of times with Bruce helping him and that had been nice, but this was so much better. Almost enough. 

Then Bruce grunted and released Tony's neck and began moving, pushing in and pulling back and pushing in, and so big, so hot. Bruce's dick was perfect, stretching him so tight and so full. "More!" Tony demanded, trying to spread his legs even further, which was a bad idea, because Bruce was heavy, and they fell down into the furs, with Tony's hand pinned underneath him so he couldn't reach his dick. He would have felt frustrated, but Bruce moved faster and harder, and Tony was being pushed back and forth in the furs, and his dick and butt were dripping and sliding his dick on the wet furs was wonderful. "Bruce, Bruce, Bruce," Tony babbled and wriggled and clawed at the furs and had an amazingly good time not thinking about anything except being Bruce's, having Bruce all of Bruce, and...

"OW!" Tony was shocked to stillness by the rush of heat and the sudden pain as he was stretched almost to tearing. Bruce slammed into him once more and then lay heavily on him, panting and stroking Tony all over. Bruce shifted them enough to put his hand on Tony's dick, which had been softened by the pain, but leaped readily to Bruce's familiar hand, and came in a few seconds. Tony sighed in relief, turned his head and let it fall down into the furs. "Mmm." Bruce was knotted into him, and he was going to stay there until he'd given Tony a baby. "Nice," Tony said sleepily patting Bruce's hand. 

Bruce kissed him on the back of the neck and settled them on their sides to more comfortably to enjoy the knotting. "Love you, Tony," Bruce said. He didn't sound like the Other Guy any more.

"Love you, too, Bruce." Tony yawned and fell asleep, now that he wasn't hot, just comfortably warm all over.


	5. Too Cool to Rule

It was good that there were other people, because Tony and Bruce pretty much spent the next week mating, and when they weren't mating, they were sleeping. The others left food and water for them just inside the cave entrance, and they watched out for predators. It was nice having people you could trust. Tony felt a lot better about the whole baby business. His tribe wouldn't let him go hungry if there was anything at all to eat, even if something happened to Bruce. But nothing would. The Other Guy was stronger than anybody, the best mate ever. 

After that they were all working hard to lay up food stores before the first heavy snow of the season. Tony mostly stayed in camp, trying to make weapons and other things, or cutting up and smoke drying meat and fish. Bruce was hunting nearly every day, because the Other Guy not only could kill bigger things, he could carry more meat on his back. At least one member of the tribe stayed with Tony at all times. Tony had pretended he didn't like that, but he liked having someone to talk to, even if they weren't as smart as Bruce. Also, he remembered Tasha sneaking up on him and sticking him with a knife. He didn't want anyone else to sneak up on him and stick knives into him.

He was working on a new idea, something to try to cover up smells, to make it easier to hunt. Hot water poured over a pot of wood ash and then mixed with melted fat with bits of nice-smelling leaves was pretty good, but sticky. Clint complained that he got covered in dead leaves, but then Tasha told him that was good because deer weren't afraid of dead leaves. Tony didn't say anything because Tasha was still kinda scary. He went down to the riverbank to wash the sticky off his hands in the cold water, and then sat there a while, watching fish swimming slowly amid the thickening patches of ice. He guessed fish got cold too. Did they shiver? He looked closer, and couldn't tell. He heard splashing in the distance and looked up. "BEAR!" he shouted, scrambling back and running for the camp.

Clint, still looking like a dead bush, only now he was a dead bush carrying a spear, and Tasha, met him. Tasha pushed Tony toward the cave, and he balked for a moment, and then he remembered he had all his best weapons in there and ran in to get some of them. By the time he came out, the huge red bear was standing on his back legs in the middle of the camp with his back to Tony. A man's legs were dangling to one side of the bear, and an arm hanging down on the other, like the bear was carrying the man in his arms. Bush-Clint was standing in front of the bear, but Tony couldn't see Tasha. He put a sharp rock in the piece of leather and began spinning it over his head. He had to time the release just right... last time he tried, he'd hit Tasha in the butt and she shouted at him. 

Something grabbed the leather and pulled it out of his hand. He turned to see Tasha scowling at him. She did that a lot. He didn't know why. Tasha just didn't have a sense of humor. "Idiot!" Tasha said. "That's not a bear." 

"Not?" Tony turned back and saw the bear head was flopped on its shoulder and it now had long hair on its head the color of summer grain. "That's a strange bear." The bear turned to face him, and... the head was part of a red-furred cloak, with the front paws tied around a man's neck. The back paws barely touched the ground. "Oh. Well... anyone could make that mistake." The bear was an a-man, taller and broader than Steve, and with bigger arms than Clint. He wasn't as pretty as Steve. But he did have very nice hair. "I mean, I've seen lots of bears smaller than you."

The a-man looked confused. "I am not a bear. My name is Thor. I found this b-man bravely fighting a pack of wolves. Then he fell off a cliff. Into the ice." Thor laid the man down on the ground. "I smelled an o-man, and o-men are lucky, so I brought the man here."

Tony looked at the b-man. "You left his arm behind."

Thor looked embarrassed. "In my haste, I did not notice. I could go back and get it? But I fear the wolves have already eaten it."

"No, no," Tony said. He looked at Tasha and Clint for help. Thor was very strange. Tony wasn't sure that he really wasn't part bear. "Don't worry about the arm. Why didn't you take him to your own tribe?" 

Thor sighed, and looked even sadder than Stupid when there weren't any bones left. "I have no tribe. My younger brother told my father that I was going to challenge him for the leadership of the tribe." Thor paused. "And he said I was not clever enough to be leader. And then... I may have got angry and broke a few things. And people. But they were only a little broken!" Thor added hastily.

Tony was fascinated. "Huh. And they told you to go?"

"No. They said they wanted me to be king. But my father is the king! So, I left." Thor sighed again. 

"Um. All right," Tony said. "So, you go around by yourself, picking up broken people and carrying them around with you?" Tony looked at Tasha and Clint again. Tasha shrugged. Clint shed a few leaves.

"Well, that was today." Thor looked hopefully at Tony. "Can the broken man stay?"

No one said anything. Tony looked at the b-man on the ground. He was still breathing, and not bleeding, but in general, in Tony's experience, animals without a leg didn't do well. Maybe people were better at that because they didn't need four legs to walk on. "Yeah, but you better stay, too. Someone's got to look after him."

"I can join your tribe?" Thor's face lit up. "This is a good day! Have some mead!" Thor produced a pottery jug stoppered with a whittled plug of wood from under his cloak. Now that Tony looked, he could see that Thor had all sorts of stuff tied onto his belt by thongs, including a huge hammer.

"Mead?"

"Fermented honey! It's good!" Thor held the jug while Tony had a gulp. After the fire went down, and he stopped coughing, Tony decided it was very good. 

He patted Thor on the arm. "WOW, that would make dead men sit up." Then Tony sat on the ground. "Hic."

"Give some to the broken man," Tasha said, finally having an idea she felt like sharing.

Clint looked at Tony. "You sure?"

Tasha shrugged. "I've never seen a dead man sit up."

Thor said gleefully, "Neither have I!" He knelt down and propped the one-armed man against his knee and poured some into his mouth.

The b-man opened his eyes and sputtered for a second, then he grabbed the jug with his hand and gulped down some more. "That's got a kick," he said with satisfaction. Then he looked down at himself and poked at the place where an arm used to be. "Aw. Heck. Steve's not going to like that."

"You know Steve?" Clint asked.

The b-man peered suspiciously at the talking bush, and then back at the jug. He shrugged and had another gulp. "He was gonna be my mate, but he got kicked out of the tribe while I was out hunting." He paused and looked back at Clint. "Hey, bush, do you know where Steve is? Tell him Bucky's been looking for him allll over." Bucky levered the jug up over his lone arm and drank, gulp after gulp after gulp while Tony watched in awe. Finally Bucky let the jug drop with an empty sounding thud, and he belched. Then his eyes rolled up white and he flopped against Thor's knee.

"Did you kill him?" Tony asked. He picked up the jug and swished it. It made a sad little gurgle. "We need more mead."

Bucky snored.


	6. Icy Hot

Steve was very happy to see Bucky. They barely waited for his arm to grow back before they were mating in the cave, in front of the cave, down by the riverbank and once on top of a mammoth they'd just killed. B-men couldn't have babies, but they sure _tried_. Sometimes Tony thought the tribe that Steve and Bruce and Bucky came from was a little unusual. Really, what were the odds that every man from that tribe was incredibly sexy? Tony's tribe was full of people like Justin, _ugh_ and Modok, who was the ugliest big-headed wart of a person Tony had ever met.

Tony wasn't complaining about all the pretty people around him. Not that he wanted anyone but Bruce and the Other Guy, but it was nice to look up from his work and relax by watching Thor wrestling with Steve, or Tasha throwing Bucky all over the place. So pretty. It was the prettiest winter Tony could ever remember. The trees were all black sticks, and the sky was mostly gray, and there was hardly any light, and the air burned cold in his nose and made it bleed sometimes, but their cave was warm and full of Steve's pictures. (After Bucky arrived, Steve drew fewer mammoths stuck full of spears, and more birds and dancing people.)

Everyone had enough to eat, even Stupid and the girl dog who'd come back with him one day. She was a splay-footed yellow creature that Tony named Stumble. Tony wasn't expecting much from their potential puppies.

They were all in the inner cave making shadow shows during a blizzard when there was a knock from the outer cave. Tony looked around quickly, making a head count. No one was missing. Even the dogs were there, curled up and sleeping. Tony made a shadow duck open its beak. "Quack quack," he said.

"KNOCK KNOCK," came from the outer cave.

By this time everyone was looking around and adding up noses. "Do that again, Tony," Thor said.

Tony shrugged. He made a wolf. "WOOF, WOOF," he said.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK," came from the outer cave.

"Isn't someone going to go see who that is?" Steve asked.

"I'm comfortable," Bruce said. He was lying next to Tony, idly rubbing Tony's baby bump.

"Maybe they'll go away," Clint said. He was throwing knives at a drawing of a bull. He didn't like bulls.

Bucky threw a knife at Clint's bull. Tasha threw a knife that hit Bucky's knife. 

Steve got up. "I'll get it." He picked up his spear and used it to push aside the layers of furs covering the exit to the outer cave. He left it open behind him.

"Hey!" Tony yelled, "Shut the furs! Were you born in the woods?"

Steve didn't answer. 

Everyone listened. They could hear voices from the outer cave, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Steve bounced back into the room, smiling. "Thor! Remember you told us your father had one eye? He's come to visit you!" He pushed the furs aside and waved. "Come in!"

Thor stood up, and so did everyone else.

Tony looked at the three people who'd entered the room, a b-man, a b-woman, and a one-eyed a-man. Tony looked at the a-man, and then at Thor. Then he looked back at the a-man. Then at Thor. Then he squinted. "Sorry, I'm not seeing the resemblance."

The a-man swirled his black fur cape and said, "I'm Fury. These are my mates, Phil and Hill. They're twins."

Thor looked confused. "You're not my father."

Fury sighed. "No, I'm not." He looked around the cave. "Gentlemen, and ladies. I'm here to talk to you about the Cavenger Initiative."

"If this is something about getting ready for the end of the world," Tony said, "we're good. Have some mead."

"YES, mead!" Thor said, and began opening jugs.

Tony drank a small mugful and then sat next to Bruce. Fury was trying to explain something. No one was listening because they all had mead. Steve closed the furs and it started to get warm again. Bruce put his arm around Tony and kissed his neck. It really was the best winter ever. Tony laced his fingers together and made an eagle fly and land on Fury's bald head. Fury was still talking to Steve who was nodding and listening seriously. Phil and Hill were discussing knives with Clint and Natasha. Bucky and Thor were knocking back the mead. Tony looked at his tribe and smiled. Come spring, maybe he'd talk them into visiting Tony's old tribe. He'd like to ride in on the Other Guy's big green shoulder, surrounded by all the pretty and awesome of his tribe and show off his baby belly. That'd show his dad what for.


	7. Heart-Warming

Thor didn't have a mate. In Tony's old tribe this wouldn't have made much difference because there were plenty of unmated people, either because their mate had died, or they were too young, or too picky, or too old, or even because they just didn't feel like mating. But here, everyone had paired off. Even Stupid had Stumble, and Fury had _two_ mates. Thor never complained, but Tony thought he looked sad sometimes.

Now that the snow was thin and there were green sprouts coming up everywhere, Tony wanted to go back to his old tribe and show off his wonderful new tribe. Maybe Thor would find someone he liked from Tony's tribe? But if he did, would he leave Tony's tribe to stay with his new mate? Tribe. Tribe, tribe, tribe. The more he thought it, the funnier it sounded. He sat there and thought about funny words for a long time until the little person inside him started kicking again. He guessed it was getting cramped in there. "THOR! Come and help me up." Most of the tribe had gone hunting, leaving Tasha and Thor to guard the camp, and Tony. His belly was being a nuisance. It got in the way and made him feel like he was about to fall over.

"I come, Tony-o," Thor said, dropping his skin scraper onto the buffalo hide he was cleaning. He easily lifted Tony in his arms and carried him from the cave where Tony liked to do his thinking. "Where do you wish to go?"

Tony stopped thinking about sitting on his favorite smooth rock in the sunshine. "I want to go back to my old tribe." Thor stopped walking and looked upset. Tony added, "Because I'm so proud of all of you. I want them to see how happy we are." He squeezed Thor's biceps. "And maybe...maybe you could find a mate? If you want one? We could use another person in our cave next winter, don't you think?" 

Thor's brows went down, down, down, until they were stopped by his nose, otherwise Tony thought they'd have kept going. "There were women I liked in my old tribe, but father said none of them were good enough to be queen. She should be strong enough to carry home the buffalo, brave enough to kill enemy fighters, big enough to bear two or three warriors at a time and also, she should have hair the color of the sun, so she could run ahead in battle and be a banner." Thor grunted. "The women I liked were all..." He put Tony down on Tony's favorite rock, so he could gesture with his hands, below his shoulder height. "Tiny," he said finally.

"Well," Tony said as he warmed his butt on the stone, "in my tribe you're not king, so you don't need a queen, do you?"

Thor's expression lifted, like thunderclouds parting. "NO! Thor needs no queen!" He picked up his hammer and spun it around his head by the leather loop on the end, and let it go. It flew into a tree and knocked down a bird's nest. Thor looked at the nest. "EGGS!" 

Tony liked Thor. It didn't take much to make the big guy happy.

 

"I don't want to go," Fury said. 

Tony was pretty sure Fury just didn't like the idea because it wasn't his. Fury was bossy. Tony tossed another scrap of meat to Stumble. She was getting too fat to hunt, and she wasn't very good at it, anyway. "But Thor doesn't have a mate," Tony said. "And we have to go with him. We're his tribe." 

"WE GO," Big Green said. He ripped a huge boulder from the ground and rolled it in front of the home cave entrance. "BEARS STAY OUT."

Tony looked at the boulder. "I think Stupid is in the cave."

Stupid howled. They could hear him, muffled and unhappy. Stumble tilted her head and went over to the boulder to scratch at it.

 

After Big Green moved the rock again, everyone gathered up their best weapons and nicest furs and enough food so they wouldn't have to stop to hunt. Then Big Green rolled the rock back again. Stumble howled from inside the cave.

Tony sighed.

 

"All right, is everyone ready?" Steve asked after the umpteenth time Big Green had to open the cave because something was left behind. Stupid and Stumble were tied together by long lengths of vine to a tree. Natasha's knives had been counted. Bruce's bundle of cooking herbs were folded into a dry hide. Tony's hollow hard rock holding a lump of fire-coal was in its traveling basket where it could get air and be fed when it was hungry. Thor was carrying two full jugs of mead. Clint had all his new arrows, and extra sinew for his bow. Phil and Hill had all sorts of bundles. Fury had his scowl.

"Yes!" Tony said. 

"No," Bucky said. He waved with his new arm at the sky. "It's almost night. It's bad to start out at night."

"It's going to be night sometime before we get there," Tony pointed out.

"We'll stop and make camp before it gets dark," Steve said. "It's what hunting parties do."

Tony sulked. He never got to be on a hunting party. "It's not that dark."

"But it will be," Fury said. Phil and Hill put down their bundles. Big Green sighed and opened up the cave again.

 

"It's time to go," Steve said. 

Tony opened his eyes. The light coming in the cave was pink and yellow and soft. Everyone was standing in front of the cave with all their bundles, dark outlines against the pale light. Bucky was holding the vines with Stumble and Stupid on the ends. Tony closed his eyes. "Too early."

"WE GO NOW," Big Green said. He picked Tony up, still wrapped in his sleeping furs, and stepped outside of the cave. He pushed the boulder back in place with his shoulder. It had gone back and forth so many times it had worn a path and moved smoothly.

"Um, all right." Tony pulled a length of fur over his head to shut out the light and fell asleep, soothed by the rhythm of Big Green's walking.

 

They walked and walked, and sometimes got rained on, but mostly not. They gathered greens as they went along. Tony ate a lot of them. He wondered if he liked greens more because he had a Little Green inside of him. He wondered if Little Green would like him. He wondered if he would be good to Little Green. He wondered if Little Green would be an O-man. It would be nice because Little Green could learn that being an O-man was a good thing, in a good tribe.

He also wondered if Little Green kicked so much because he didn't want to go see Howard. Now that they were started, Tony wasn't so sure _he_ wanted to see Howard, but he had promised Thor they would look for a mate and Tony's tribe was closer than the one Bruce and Steve came from. And their tribe had kicked them out because they were big and strong, which was so stupid, but that probably would mean that no one would want to be Thor's mate, because he was even bigger than Steve. So, really unless they were going to wander around aimlessly, hoping to find another tribe, this was best. Tony wanted what was best for his tribe. He was their lucky o-man, Thor said. Thor was nice. Tony kept thinking about things too much, but he could count on Little Green kicking him to remind him what was important.

 

When they reached the Place of Meeting where tribes came when they wanted to trade things or girls or stories with Howard's tribe, Tony was sitting on Big Green's shoulder, with his best fur wrapped around him loosely enough to show off his belly. Steve had painted a beautiful fish in red berry juice there, because red meant strength and fish meant lots of babies. Tony looked down in approval at his tribe. They had all put on their best feathers and shells and furs and stones. Even Stupid and Stumble were wearing strips of leather with colored stones tied onto them around their necks. 

Fury stepped forward. They'd decided to let him speak for the tribe because he could always make people shut up and listen to him. Steve would be their leader if it came to fighting, and Big Green if there was anything to be proved by strength alone, but for just plain talking, no one beat Fury.

Fury cleared his throat and waited until the heavy swish of his black hide coat had settled, and all eyes of Howard's tribe were on him. That took a minute, because Big Green was standing there. But Big Green wasn't doing anything, so after that minute, everyone looked at Fury.

"We come in peace," Fury said. The way he said it, it was obvious he meant, 'we could beat everyone here, but we feel like being nice'. Tony loved how Fury could do stuff like that. "We come to trade." He made a gesture, and Phil and Bucky laid down hide bundles that they unwrapped to show some of Tony's smaller weapons, and things the rest of the tribe had made, like Steve's paintings on rocks, and Thor's baked pots, and Natasha's whisper thin knives... oh, lots of things. There was a murmur of interest. "We come to look for a mate for our brother, Thor." 

Thor stepped forward and smiled. There was a louder murmur of interest.

"We come for the father-father's blessing for our brother's first child." Fury pointed at Tony.

"What?" Tony hadn't planned that at all. What even was a father-father's blessing? Baby-bearers left their father's tribe and didn't come back. Fury's tribe must have been strange. Fury must have planned this with Bruce, because Big Green knelt and Tony really had no choice but to get off his shoulder and walk up to stand next to Fury.

"Our O-man is the heart of our tribe." Fury scowled, and Tony noticed Steve mouthing the words along with him, so maybe it was Steve's idea. Steve could be sneaky like that. "His father is Howard, a maker of things in your tribe." And then Fury waited.

No one said anything. Finally the crowd shuffled aside and Howard came. He looked the same as always. Maybe he was wobbling a bit more than Tony remembered. He always had jugs of stuff like mead, but they didn't smell as nice. He smelled of them now. Come to think of it, he always smelled like that. His eyes were very bright. He laid both hands lightly on Tony's belly. "I give you the father-father's blessing on your child," Howard said out loud. Then he leaned over to look at one of the jugs for trading. "We should drink on that."

 

There was dancing and singing, and a big fire so everyone could stay up all night. A lot of jugs got passed around. Little Green didn't like jugs, so Tony just drank water. Howard drank a lot of jugs and fell asleep. Tony got Steve to paint a horsefly on Howard's face.

Thor was surrounded by the biggest men and women of the tribe, dancing and drinking and laughing with them, but Tony wasn't really surprised when Thor turned up the next morning with a tiny woman who had delicate-looking skin, long dark hair, slender hands, and bright eyes. "This is my Jane," Thor said proudly. "She names the stars!" 

Tony looked at Jane. She didn't look as if she'd be any good at hunting, or gathering food, or doing anything practical. But she made Thor smile. "Welcome to the tribe, Jane!"


	8. Hot Rocks and Warm Greens

Little Green waited for them to return to the home cave before getting bored with being inside Tony. Tony would have been bored much sooner, sitting in the dark, with nothing to do, so he really shouldn't have been surprised, but he was. He'd become used to being a person and a half and had forgot-- well, mostly he had deliberately not thought about-- the actual process of getting Little Green out into the world.

It was messy, and it hurt, and Thor fainted, and Bruce went all green and ran off shouting that he was going to get a present for Little Green. Tony had no idea that this was going to make everyone act crazy. Natasha and Clint suddenly decided that they needed to hunt, and disappeared. Steve put on his cute determined face and said he'd try to help, but he didn't know what to do. Fury and Hill and Bucky didn't say anything, but when Tony opened his eyes after a good long yell, they were gone, too.

Tony pouted and panted, and would have been annoyed, except that all his attention was taken up with hurting. The only ones left in the cave were Phil and Jane. "Come on," Phil said to Tony. "If you get up and walk, it will be over sooner."

"How... do you know?" Tony asked. Phil wasn't an O-man, and Hill had never had any babies.

"I was the oldest in my family. I had six sisters," Phil said in his calm voice, the same one he'd used when he choked a sabretooth to death by throwing a big fruit down its throat. Phil could be scarier than Natasha. 

Jane said, "Everyone said I was too thin, so I didn't have any babies, but..." she smiled and held up her hands. "I helped a lot of babies come out, even when they got a little stuck." She patted Tony on the shoulder. "You have good, wide hips, I don't think your baby will get stuck."

Tony had another wave of pain, and then a terrible thought. "What if Little Green decides to be BIG Green?"

Phil and Jane exchanged a look that said that wasn't a surprising idea to them. "I don't think that will happen," Phil said, smiling calmly. "Oh, no, of course it won't," Jane said. She didn't lie half as well as Phil. "Steve," Phil said, "help Tony get up and walk."

Tony whined and didn't want to, but Steve just picked him up and set his feet on the ground and began walking, slowly, with his big, strong arms supporting Tony. Stupid and Stumble whined and got underfoot, and Phil and Jane did things outside the cave, with furs and fire and water skins and... knives... Tony didn't know what knives had to do with it. Stumble had her two pups a few weeks ago, and it hadn't been anything like this. Went to bed, no pups, in the morning two fat little yellow puppies nursing at Stumble's side. That really seemed like a much better system.

And there certainly hadn't been any knives involved. Tony walked, and walked, and he didn't know if it was helping, but he could feel things happening, moving and... other stuff going on. He kept talking to Little Green, asking them to stay happy and not get Big, and he promised he'd be a good mother and not shout at Little Green, ever, if only Little Green would just stay Little.

When the walking got too much and the ow made his legs not work, Steve helped Tony lie down on the place Phil and Jane had prepared, lined with the softest, best cured skins lying skin side up, so the fur made a cushion against the ground. Everything smelled of the scent-covering stuff Tony made, which they'd found worked really well for cleaning, and made cuts heal faster. Phil and Jane had taken off their cloaks and scrubbed their arms so hard they were pale. Tony wondered if this was some kind of magic ritual. He didn't like magic. It was mostly people shouting and making smells and then telling you if things didn't go right it was your fault. If magic was any good, it would work all the time, the way Tony could always get a weapon to have a sharp point.

And somewhere along the way, the ow got stronger and had smaller and smaller non-ow times in between, and Tony stopped thinking about not liking magic, and was just trying to breathe when he could and 'push' when Phil or Jane said. Phil was holding one of Tony's hands, and Jane was doing things at Tony's backside which normally he would have told her not to, because Big Green didn't like anyone touching Tony's backside, but he just wanted this over with, and if Jane was helping things along, then good, Jane.

It hurt, really. And Tony yelled, and maybe tried to crush Phil's hand, and then... there was someone else yelling. High, and loud and... Phil helped Tony lie on his back. Jane was busy with... a little, squirming, red thing. Tony had to admit the puppies looked better. 

Jane grinned. "She's perfect!"

Tony pushed an elbow beneath him to get a better look. The baby was certainly active enough. And not big and green. "Is she an O?"

Jane shrugged. "I don't know. How do you tell?"

That stumped Tony. His mother had told him all the ways O-men were different and special, but she hadn't mentioned O-women. "Huh. Maybe Bruce will know." Then Tony lay down and let Phil and Jane take care of him and the baby. Stupid and Stumble came over to look at her, and wagged their tails, so they thought she was a good baby, too. Steve brought Tony a cup of the hot leaf water that Bruce had invented, and then he went off with his spear to stand guard, since there was a lot of blood smell, and that might attract predators. Jane wrapped the baby in a lambskin, and gave her to Tony to hold.

Tony was dozing when Big Green returned. He had... well... it was very impressive. He had a blue streaked lion over his shoulder. That would make a pretty rug for the baby. Big Green grinned so wide Tony could see all of his teeth. He put the lion down, and shrank back into Bruce. "Wow. You did it." He reached for the baby, but Jane caught his hand and made him wash up first. 

"It's a girl," Tony said. "I don't know if she's an O, or not."

Bruce laughed. "Girls aren't Os, Tony."

"Never?" Tony was a little disappointed.

"Not that I heard of." Bruce ran a finger down the baby's arm. Her little hands opened and closed like flowers, or like...

"Fern," Tony said, "that's her name." 

"Fern." Bruce smiled as wide as Big Green. "I brought you a present, Fern."

Tony's curiosity was aroused. "I never saw a blue lion before."

"It got into something that colored it, I guess." Bruce played with the baby's hands, smiling at her strong grip when she grabbed his finger.

Steve came over with a cup of leaf water for Bruce. "I haven't got any good blues. Some berries look blue, but they color red or purple. Do you think you could find where the lion got the color?"

"Yeah, the Other Guy's great at tracking." Bruce wasn't really paying attention to Steve.

 

It was more than a week before Bruce would leave Tony and the baby long enough to track down the blue for Steve. It turned out the lion had done its business in a blue clay bank. Steve dug out some of the cleaner blue clay and brought it back to camp to dry and refine into something he could paint on the cave walls. "There's a lot of hard rocks in this," he complained, sifting through the mass with his fingers.

"Hard?" Tony asked, looking up from where he was holding Fern against his breast to nurse. That felt strange, and made him hungry, but it felt good, too. And Fern was growing so well, he didn't mind at all. "How hard?"

"Really hard." Steve dug out a thumb-sized rock, whitish, but not the white of chalk, more like the white of ice. He handed Tony the rock. 

"Oh, nice." The rock had hard, smooth sides, some of which were even sharp. He ran it down the boulder he was leaning against and was pleased by the clean line it cut. "I could make great tools and weapons from these ice-rocks!"

"You can have all of them," Steve said, "they're just rubbish to me."

"Be pretty on a necklace," Jane said. "They're shiny, like stars."

Tony considered it. "I like red stones better, but these might do for spacers."

Jane nodded and continued doing the thing with two long sticks and twisted sheep wool that she'd invented. She called it 'knotting'. Tony was glad Thor had brought her into the tribe. He'd be happy to share the ice-stones with her. They would look nice against her dark hair.

Fern grumbled because Tony wasn't paying attention to her. "And I'll make you something pretty from the ice-stones, Fern." Maybe a star pattern, like Jane drew in the dirt, only tied on sinew and hung from sticks so Fern could look at it while she was lying on her blue lion skin. That would be nice. Tony stroked the top of Fern's head. She was getting curly hair, just like Bruce's. She huffed a little, and squirmed. She let go of his nipple and complained. Probably time to switch to the other one.

She squirmed a little more and scrunched up her face. Tony loved how much she looked like Bruce when she did that, so he didn't immediately move her. She blinked and squirmed, and then made a little growling noise. Tony looked at her in surprise. Her blue eyes had gone green, and her pink flush was shifting more towards leaf. Hastily Tony guided her to his full breast.

Yes! Fern _was_ a Little Green. Tony grinned and patted her back until she let out a huge burp. He couldn't wait to tell Bruce the good news. No one was going to be able to push their little girl around.

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt: [hulk!bruce/tony - a/b/o hunter/gatherer AU ](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/11264.html?thread=26780416#t26780416)
> 
>  
> 
> _a/b/o fics typically happen within the structure of the world as we know it, just with added a/b/o. I want some sort of AU where humans are a predatory species, and Alphas are the main hunters (/offer things to normally-the-hunter!omegas in order to woo them)._
> 
>  
> 
> _I've just gotten stuck on the mental image of Alpha!Hulk!Bruce being territorial in a much more 'forest setting, meat & blood' covered setting, and Tony reacting to that with "yes, this means he is a good alpha, now fucking plz"._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] When Little Stone Man Met Big Green](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3072554) by [RsCreighton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RsCreighton/pseuds/RsCreighton)




End file.
